• manor •

Meaning: 1. The main house on a landed estate, usually a mansion. 2. A tract of land with hereditary rights granted by royal charter. 3. (Historical) The estate of a lord, a landed possession of a lord, including the lands which he governs.

Notes: To the manor bornThe adjective accompanying today's Good Word is manorial. Should we decide to shift to a manorial system of government, we would manorialize the counties, as we did in the past. The phrase "to the manor born" began its life in the 17th century as "to the manner born", meaning "familiar with the customs of a place from birth". This phrase is now taken to mean "naturally suited for". Since manor and manner are pronounced identically, the spelling of this phrase has been confused since the middle of the 18th century. The BBC took advantage of this confusion with its TV series, To the Manor Born, implying that one is accustomed to living in lordly fashion.

In Play: This Good Word today usually refers to a large estate in the country or just a mansion: "When Norman Conquest made his millions, he spent it all on a manor in the country, complete with moat, which he stocked with trout." I suppose we should accept the phrase "to the manor born", now that it has taken up residence in all the major dictionaries: "Now Norman's children behave as though they were to the manor born—well, I guess they were, weren't they?"

Word History: This word comes to us from Old French maneir, manoir "dwelling, to dwell" from Latin manere "to stay, remain". This root may be seen in Greek menein "to remain", Persian mandan "to remain", and Armenian mnam "I remain", but the Germanic languages like English had to borrow the word from Latin and the Romance languages, all of which evolved from Latin. We see the same root in mansion, manse, remain, and permanent—all borrowed. (We see that P. G. Beck was to the manner of words born, for 'twas P. G. who suggested today's very Good Word.)

It's easy, Slava. You're the "wild card" on the forum. If something unusual happens, you must perforce be behind it, enjoying a somewhat puckish reputation as you do. That would include a word originally posted by Dr. G in February, mysteriously "popping up" again in May. Who else but Slava with his roving commission? As for 131 and 238, divide the latter by the former and you arrive at 1.816 or Phi, the golden ratio. Voila! Clear now, isn't it?

Last edited by MTC on Wed May 08, 2013 4:15 am, edited 3 times in total.

MTC wrote:It's easy, Slava. You're the "wild card" on the forum. If something unusual happens, you must perforce be behind it, enjoying a somewhat puckish reputation as you do. That would include a word originally posted by Dr. G in Febuary, mysteriously "popping up" again in May. Who else but Slava with his roving commission?

No, no, no, and no.

What do you wish to imply by labeling me a "wild card"? I believe my attempts at sticking to the rules of the Agora would make me more of a stick in the mud than a wild card.

Whence cometh my supposed "puckish reputation"? Who me, Puck?

What meaneth Febuary (sic), when the post was made in March?

What is a roving commission?

Has anyone else come across this as a new post for the day?

As regards "re-posting", I do not engage in this activity. When I post words to the Discussion board, it is because Dr. Goodword, for whatever reason, did not post the GWotD. It may be a repeat from years back (when I simply copy & paste), or it may be a new entry to the GW dictionary (when I somewhat less simply copy & paste). It is most emphatically NOT me deciding to post a word for no particular reason.

At first I thought you wrote "Lighten up Slava." But then I misspelled February. Anyway, the whole thing has been lighter than helium from the start.

As for Slava's reaction to "wild card" and "stick in the mud," in the spirit of compromise I'll make it "a wild card on a stick in the mud." How about that? You can't be faulted for going halfway, can you?